Fashion and leather goods were the superstars of LVMH’s quarter. During the 1st quarter of 2023, the division generated 10.7 billion euro in sales (about half of the group’s total). The outcome is an 18% growth (against the +11% forecasted by Stifel). “It’s incredible, in terms of growth”, commented analyst Louise Singlehurst of Goldman Sachs during a conference call. Incredible because the increase wasn’t caused by the price increases, “not much higher compared to 2022 and 2021”, explained LVMH’s CFO Jean-Jacques Guiony. The growth is due to higher volumes sold and improved product mix.
“Incredible” LVMH
The Fashion & Leather Goods recorded growth for “about 20%” in China, added the CFO. Les Echos, news source owned by LVMH, writes that the growth of Louis Vuitton was “slightly below the average” of the division. Dior’s, meanwhile, was “slightly above”, and other brands in the division “were not far from the average”.
The US slow, Europe takes off, China accelerates
As far as geographies go, Guiony said that “activities are slowing a bit” in the US, “due to lower local demand and the fact that US buyers make their purchases abroad. Not by chance, in fact, “the growth in Europe was in the double digits, comprehensive of France and Italy”. There was a vigorous comeback of Chinese expenditure that supported the results of the French luxury conglomerate. “I am optimistic with regards to the rest of the year, because we are talking about high-level standardization”, commented Guiony.
“Tactical” increments
With regards to pricing, the CFO said that last year price tags went up “to reflect the inflationary pressure in the majority of the product lines”. And for this year he doesn’t plan on making additional and significant increments as LVMH will only apply “tactical” increments.
Q1 better than expected
For the first quarter of 2023, LVMH reported a revenue of 21 billion euro, up 1 billion from the consensus estimate (FactSet). Sales went up 17% at current rates on a comparable basis (which excludes currency fluctuations and acquisitions). Visible Alpha had forecasted +8%, Stifel about +10%.
